An Auckland business owner is sweeping shattered glass and counting his losses after three teens allegedly “ram-raided” his new electronics shop and led police on a “dangerous” 90-minute pursuit, weaving through traffic.
Simranjit Singh opened Howick’s Tech Square five months ago, thinking he’d found a safe corner in the city’seast, he said.
Instead, the teens were seen by a witness allegedly smashing their way through the Moore St store’s shopfront grill and glass window at about 5.30am today.
A nearby cafe owner spotted the robbery in progress and alerted authorities, Singh said.
The 90-minute pursuit began after police were alerted to a trio of teens allegedly burgling an electronics store on Moore St, Howick.
With the Eagle helicopter scrambling above, police said the teens fled officers, speeding on the wrong side of the road in an alleged stolen car for more than an hour until it was spiked in Clover Park where one of the trio was bitten by a police dog.
A “disappointed” Singh said his goods were as yet uninsured because he’d been in the middle of negotiating coverage with an insurer.
As a new phone and TV seller and repair business, he was concerned about whether customer devices had been among those stolen, he said.
The owner of Tech Square Howick electronic store is cleaning up the damage and counting the costs of a smash and grab on his shop that led to a police chase on Friday. Photo / Supplied
“It’s pretty disheartening,” he said, noting that shoplifting had become regular and costly at his other Tech Square store in Manurewa.
The raid was the latest in a series of high-profile crimes across the city in recent weeks, including shootings and robberies.
Singh said he was speaking out to keep embattled store owners and their plight in the forefront of the public and policymakers’ minds.
